RESULTS DELAY: The Nasdaq stock exchange halted trading in struggling telecoms operator Metromedia Fiber Network yesterday, a day after the firm delayed filing its financial results for a second time.

The company, which owns a $75 million (€84 million) internet data centre in Dublin, has already delayed its results and warned that it may have to file for bankruptcy protection from its creditors.

This week it defaulted on $975 million in debt held by an affiliate of Verizon Communications and announced that it intended to restate results for the first three quarters of the year. Metromedia said in a statement that its auditors - KPMG - was not able to review the quarterly data in the annual report in accordance with professional standards.

This is because Metromedia's own internal control structure, policies and procedures for the preparation of interim financial information did not provide an adequate basis for it to complete such a review.

This prompted the stock market to ask Metromedia for additional information.

Nasdaq said the stock would remain halted until the company provided this information.

Metromedia, which builds high-speed fibre optic networks in metropolitan areas, is suffering along with the rest of the telecoms industry from smaller-than-expected demand for high-speed capacity.

The company initially signed a deal with Microsoft to deliver its software over the internet to customers in Europe, Middle East and Africa from its Dublin centre.

But following Metromedia's high-profile financial problems last year, Microsoft decided to award this potentially lucrative contract to Eircom.

A Metromedia spokeswoman said the firm had not yet announced a new date yet to report results. She said the company had not filed for bankruptcy and was still working with creditors on managing debt.